10 October, 2012

I’ve not had much time for gaming this year. For a while I was looking at getting into a bit of ancient naval wargaming, but moved to Adelaide before I could go further with that. I got a few games of DBA with Joel before I left and the Mithridatics had their first victory. Otherwise, I was going to try to play SBH: it’s more portable, and the community isn’t riven by disputes over rule changes, which has rather soured DBA for me. However, when I saw that Cancon would be using DBA 2.2, I thought it’d be fun to get along next year. I’m still deciding on armies; I’m tending towards Mithridatics (the last chance to use SCh while they’re fun possibly), but if I took Seleucids I could field 3Cm, who are also slated for emasculation. I have fewer options for a later army, but if I decide to take a different one from last time, it’d likely be the Pre-feudal Scots; they’re hardly dynamic, but they’re not pathetic. It’s a choice between them and the Komnenans, as I have nothing else ready.

In Adelaide I’ve played a few boardgames, particularly the new edition of A Game of Thrones, which is quite satisfying in its permutations. If I bring a few armies with me for Cancon, I may look to get in contact with DBA gamers there. I’m going to be there for another year.

While on holiday in Melbourne I’ve had a couple of games of DBA with Steve. We played Imperial Germans against Communal Italians. The Germans won decisively, but I can’t really remember how. We then played Papal Italians against Communal Italians. This time it was a victory for the commune, as their Knight general managed to destroy a Horde and a Psiloi. The Carroccio stayed firm on one flank, despite heavy pressure from the opposing spear.

Last night we tried Libyan Egyptians against Neo-Assyrians. The Neo-Assyrians were hard pressed by the Libyan archers, who recoiled them a long way back before being caught by the Assyrian cavalry. After that it was only a matter of time. The highlight for me was the Assyrian general’s charge into the Meshwesh (4Wb), who were reputed to be invincible. They died, but the general forgot about his pursuit and on the next turn the other Meshwesh turned and recoiled the general into a 3Wb; their boast of invincibility was not so empty, though by then it was too late and the rest of the army was in flight.